Mass storage business card

Just snap off the corners and this business card can be used as a mass storage device. Well sort of. The tab left over has four traces on the back to make it USB compatible. The PIC 24FJ64GB002 microcontroller on the card registers as a storage device and launches [Ramiro’s] resume and a cover letter loaded as an HTML file. He’s made it as useful as possible by including access to the SPI and I2C bus connections but he’s also included some firmware to act as a data logger or an oscilloscope. At about 5 euros a piece you won’t be distributing these willy-nilly but it’s not too much more than handing out breakout boards with your name all over them.

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28 thoughts on “Mass storage business card”

“The world of the business software (for banking, insurance, services…) is boring, monotone and it is not challenging enough for me. I would like to redirect my labor situation toward a field more related with the electronic engineering, which is my real passion.”

Mmm…in this economy I’d take your boring business software job if it pays well. I’d leave my “real passion” for my off time and build what I like. Sure, you can always apply for a job elsewhere, but if you are already employed don’t jump ship until you are sure you landed the other job.

I don’t think this is the sort of thing you’d just mail to an HR department.

This is something I would hand to someone in a hiring position at a more social event, or one-on-one in an interview. How badass would you look concluding an interview by saying, nonchalantly, “Oh, and here’s my card,” and thwapping down something clever like this.

Exactly. This isn’t something I’d send to GE or Exxon, but meeting Mr. H-A-D for a lunch interview couldn’t end better than the aforementioned “here’s my card”. If nothing else, he’d be curious enough to plug it in – just to see what’s on it. autorun would take care of the rest ;)

To those who (like me) would be torn between plugging in an unknown and letting curiosity get the best of you, let’s face it – your name is on it and they know that. They’re well-aware that anyone capable of doing something like this isn’t careless enough to put something malicious on it (at least not without hiding it REALLY well!).

wow i now have to dust off my photo etching supply. It looks like a fun way to land a job and show off your skills with prototyping even if it is inherently simple in design. Right On best post in weeks guys keep it up.

Hmmm… If a company has a reasonably security conscious sysadmin, autorun has probably been disabled through the group policy since this card has the same sort of behavior that various malware strains have. This seems kind of risky to spend that kind of money on since you’d probably look really dumb if it didn’t work. And if it did work… Social engineering attack anyone?

I hate to be a killjoy, but as someone who works with PCBs daily, one of the nasty things about them is that they tend to shed glass fibers off the edges. Now, this usually isn’t a problem, because you could coat or polish the edges of this card (at extra cost, of course), but when you break parts off the board, those fibers are rough and some are loose, just waiting to stick into your hands. It takes about a week for them to stop pricking you.

Just something to consider when you hand them out…don’t want the person you were trying to impress to remember you as the guy who left him with glass fibers in his hand for a week!